top of page
Search

Close Reading

  • Writer: Mat Wenzel
    Mat Wenzel
  • Sep 5, 2019
  • 1 min read

"There is a small but immitigable fallacy in the theory of close reading, . . . and it applies to political journalism as well as to the reading of poetry. The text doesn’t reveal its secrets just by being stared at. It reveals its secrets to those who already pretty much know what secrets they expect to find. Texts are always packed, by the reader’s prior knowledge and expectations, before they are unpacked. The teacher has already inserted into the hat the rabbit whose production in the classroom awes the undergraduates." (Louis Menand, "Out of Bethlehem." The New Yorker, August 24, 2015)

Recent Posts

See All
IMPORTANT: Draft Due

In order to stave off procrastination and increase the likelihood of creating revised and polished final drafts, students are required to...

 
 
 
Example portfolios

You can see some of the portfolios from my previous students by following this link https://matwenzel.wixsite.com/intro/post/portfolios

 
 
 
Proposal

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Us3GCnNe7no7y-nrokiGhkMY6dS90mnYy5Ozh64tjo0/edit?usp=sharing https://call-for-papers.sas.upenn.edu/cf...

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page